The Fulton County Health Department is going on Zika alert, with plans to begin aggressive spraying of potential trouble spots May 16 and applying larvacide to water basins as it targets mosquitoes that can transmit the disease.
Residents can report issues of mosquitoes or standing water by calling the Fulton Environmental Health Services Mosquito Hotline, 404-613-1303.
Zika has been linked to serious birth defects in infants. Fulton officials say they are launching their anti-mosquito campaign after the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified the virus in the Asian Tiger mosquito, a more common mosquito in the United States than the Aedes aegypti associated with Zika in Latin America.
So far, the only instances of Zika in Georgia have involved 13 people who traveled to countries where the virus is active and brought the disease home with them. Checks of 12,000 traps in Fulton have found no virus-carrying mosquitoes, officials said.
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